NEW DELHI: After England won by an innings despite conceding 556 runs in Multan on Friday , their stand-in captain Ollie Pope expressed sympathy with Pakistan, who lost for the sixth time in a row and haven’t won a Test match at home since 2021.
“Obviously when you bat and make 550, you think you’re in the driving seat there,” Pope said at the post-match presentation.
“But when you come out to bat again, and you’re 260 runs behind, and the pitch is three days older than it was when you first batted, it’s never an easy thing to do.
“We felt like we had a lot of different wicket-taking opportunities. The odd ball was staying low, we got the ball reversing a little bit, and got the odd ball to spin as well. It’s never an easy position.
“Even if you bat as well as you can and make 400 in that last innings, we still would have tried to back ourselves and chase 140 or so.”
Pope’s two-ball duck was the sole sting in an otherwise easily flowing runs game.
“I mean, that’s the game, isn’t it? I smoked a pull shot straight to mid-wicket and, unfortunately, I was the one to miss out this week. But it’s a team game and what matters is that we’re on the right side,” he said.
Pope praised his team’s stamina and resolve, praising batsmen Joe Root and Harry Brook in particular for orchestrating the historic victory.
On a flat pitch, Brook’s 317 and Root’s 262 helped England reply to Pakistan’s total with a massive 823-7. Early on the fifth day, the tourists secured a historic innings and 47-run victory by grabbing the three wickets required to win.
“I think credit to firstly, the bowlers, the way they went about their stuff on day one and the majority of day two,” Pope said.
“The fitness that they showed … and then the same with Harry and Joe. We knew the way to win this game was to put a mammoth score on the board.
“And it wasn’t just 100 obviously … I think that’s just credit to them, (not just) for the skills they’ve got with the bat but (also) the determination they had to put the team in a winning position. So it was awesome.”
